Coffee brewing apparatus in restaurants is furnished in two general capacities: a twelve cup size for the average establishment and a larger capacity size for restaurants having several dining rooms. It is found that the beverage tastes fresher if prepared in small volumes which are renewed as the coffee is consumed.
To facilitate the brewing process the ground coffee is provided in premeasured, sealed packets each holding enough for one cycle of the smaller machines. The restaurant employee pulls open a charging receptacle, adds a paper filter and pours ground coffee from a freshly opened packet over the filter. He then closes the receptacle and starts a cycle. Subsequent cycles are identical except that the used charge from the previous cycle must first be emptied. In the case of the larger machines the packet contains more solids but the coffee is still drawn off in twelve cup quantities which are kept hot on warmers in the various dining rooms.
The present invention relates to sealed coffee packets which incorporate a filter. The user needs only to add the improved packet to a machine's receptacle, break the seal, close the receptacle and initiate a cycle of brewing. An optional feature of the present invention is the addition of flavoring such as chocolate, mint, lemon, etc. to the ground coffee in the larger sizes of the packet. The direct addition of flavoring to ground coffee would be unsatisfactory because of differences in the rate of solution of the flavoring material and the rate of coffee extraction from the ground solids. In the present invention the flavoring is added in the form of timed-release particles so that the rate of flavoring is adjusted to the rate of brewing. This and other features of the invention will be detailed in the following specifications and drawings.